City Council Minutes 2010 03 02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes March 2, 2010 Page 11 of 12 Larry Brassem, 452 Orchard Way, Louisville, CO reiterated the Senior Advisory Board could provide somE3 extra money to help fund their programs. Laura Page, 920 Rex StrE~et, Louisville, CO acknowledged there are safety issues with turning off some iOf the City's street lights, but noted turning off a few duplicated street lights would! be a significant savings. Mayor Sisk asked Council to direct staff on a target amount to cut in order to rebalance the budget. City Manager Fleming noted the ConocoPhillips development will bring significant one-time revenues to the City and starting in 2013 and 2015, will bring fairly significant ongoing reVElnue however those ongoing revenues will not be equivalent to what was lost with the closure of Sam's Club. He was reluctant to take action on items, which Gould be reversed in one to two years. He did not want to lose long-time tah:mtE3d, skilled employees. He explained implementing furlough days, changing the medical benefits plan and reducing training budgets chip away at what makes thEl City a great place to work. He explained his proposal shares the pain between the City employees, residents who are losing services and businesses paying additional fees. He noted part of the package will ask residents to SUPPiOrt a use tax. He favored a High Deductible Insurance with minimal premiums. Under the HMO Plan, an individual employee pays $57.00 a month, while family coverage is $287.00 per month. Councilor Sackett opposEld Gutting the employee wages. He felt it would reduce the City's effectiveness. He stated it is important to protect the City's assets. He supported funding basic services and cutting some community events. Mayor Sisk noted the 4th iOf July fireworks, the City's contribution to the Street Faire and Parade of Lights have already been cut. He agreed with Councilor Sackett that the employel3s are the City's assets and the Council must protect staff and core City servicE3s. He suggested Council go forward with $300,000 in cuts to rebalance the budget and follow staff's recommendation. City Manager Fleming suggElsted Council vote on the Staff's recommendations, giving a clear indication on what items have support and what does not. Staff would come back with final proposals at the April 6, City Council meeting. MOTION: Mayor Sisk moved to approve Staff's list of recommendations with the exclusion of the provisions on Special Transit, to show an additional amount of $7,500 and the senior mE~als site be brought back to five days per week, with an additional amount of $5,000 and the funding for the Newsletter be reduced by $12,500. The motion was sE3conded by Councilor SackettCouncilor Muckle offered a friendly amendment to retain $15,000 for special events and recover the $15,000 balance from the training budget.